Good Red Hunting
by Dalukes
Summary: When Ash finds some startling news surrounding his father, he has to find him before it's too late. Before the corrupted government finds him. Includes flashbacks to Red's life twenty-odd years before. Main focus on Ash and BurningLeafShipping (RedLeaf).
1. Chapter 1

**Just to clarify, this fic is aimed for Father's Day. Hopefully chapter one comes out on Father's Day, because yes, this will have multiple chapters. I have put in my own personal theories into this, so don't flame** **me just because of what I think. Also, this fic is highly focused on BurningLeafShipping and Ash Ketchum, so if you're an OldRivalShipper or something like that, I wouldn't recommend** **reading**.

**Without further ado, here's Good Red Hunting, chapter one. **

* * *

He yawned. It was getting tiring sitting out here watching the stars. Of course, he had Leaf with him, and she always made things interesting for anyone she was with. She was with Blue at the moment.

That jerk-off. Of course, they used to be friends. Keyword: 'used'. Just a few weeks before he'd stated his journey, they'd gotten into an argument. About what, he didn't even remember.

But Blue was gone on a trip to Hoenn, so he decided to come down from Mt. Silver, back to Pallet Town to be with his girl friend.

No, you have to understand, GIRL FRIEND, not girlfriend. He had to shove that in reporters faces more than once.

But now, as he lay there on the ground, looking up at the sky, with the girl curled up next to him, he wasn't so sure about that. Sure, he'd been feeling some things about the girl lately, but he tried as hard as he could to push them out of his head.

"Y'know, Red," she started sleepily, shaking him from his thoughts, "you're the best friend I could ever have in the world."

Red turned his head, ready to ask about Blue. Shouldn't he be her best friend? However, she put a finger to his lips in order to silence him. His eyes widened, surprised.

"More than Blue, Red. More than Blue." She said in a whisper that to him was very sultry and passionate. He shivered inwardly.

He had been pushing thoughts of her out of his mind ever since he twelve.

Three years ago.

His crush had simply gotten out of hand, but the only thing restraining him was that he was her friend, her friend only. And Blue. That doofus had made sure that Red never made any moves.

But he never would have expected Leaf to make the first one.

"I have something to tell you, Red," she whispered to him as her hand slowly moved up his chest. He felt a bulge beginning to grow in his pants, that he hoped she wouldn't notice.

She yawned. "I love you, Red." She groaned, rolling over, now on top of the trainer. He gulped, what was she going to do?

She giggled. "Don't worry, Red, I know we're underage." Just as he sighed his sigh of relief, he closed his eyes. A few seconds passed before he realized that something wet had planted itself on his mouth. Jolting his eyes open, he realized that Leaf had fallen asleep kissing him.

It was a curious feeling, like someone had soaked a small pillow in water, wrung it out slightly, and then planted it on his lips.

Opening his mouth to try to say something, a different, warmer object entered his mouth: her tongue. His first thought was 'gross'. He grimaced as he pushed the sleeping girl's tongue back into her own mouth with his own tongue.

She groaned, an ecstatic mumble that made his bulge grow twice it's size.

He softly pushed her off of him, accidentally groping her as his own blush was becoming relevant to the situation.

It was then that Red Ketchum's life had just changed forever.

-Present-

"Go, Pikachu!" The raven-haired fifteen-year-old yelled out. His best friend, a yellow electric mouse Pokémon, leapt off of his shoulder and onto the ground in front of him.

"Okay, Ash, let's see what you've got!" The tanned man with slanted eyes yelled out, as he sent out his Marshtomp.

Ash grinned. Battling was his strength, what he lived for. And this get-together he had organized with all of his friends was definitely battle central. And food central.

But now wasn't snack time, it was battle time.

"Okay, Marshtomp, water gun!" Brock yelled. The salamander Pokémon opened it's mouth and shot out a jet of water at Pikachu.

"Dodge it!" Ash yelled. The mouse did just that, dodging the torrent just in time.

"Iron Tail, lets go!" Ash yelled. Pikachu leapt up, his tail briefly turning into metal as he slammed it down onto Marshtomp, who stumbled back, hurt.

"Are you okay, Marshtomp?" Brock asked. It nodded, but threw a webbed hand up to its head. A cut had developed.

"We're done!" Brock yelled. Ash ran over, looking at the cut.

"Uh huh." Ash agreed.

Pikachu slowly walked up to Marshtomp, quickly apologizing in its own language. Marshtomp accepted.

"Guys!" A brunette coordinator wearing a red tank top and black short shorts yelled out from the house. "It's lunchtime!"

You could've sworn that Ash flew to the door, quickly giving his girlfriend May a peck on the cheek before going inside the house.

Sitting down at the table sat all of his friends. Misty took a break from her gym to come over, as did Brock, Iris, Cilan, and Clemont. His sister couldn't come. May and Dawn both took personal vacations from coordinating. Max could come over with May. Tracey and Professor Oak both were able to come, but much to Misty's chagrin, Gary had not arrived.

Delia Ketchum came in with a complete turkey on a platter. "Okay, guys," she started. "eat up."

Ash and May, sitting next to each other, stacked up food and wolfed it down. Everyone laughed at the two's lack of manners, including Delia herself.

Tracey turned his chair and rolled the TV in the living room into the kitchen so everyone could watch. He turned on the television, quickly tuning in to a news channel.

A news woman appeared, neatly dressed and wearing a stone look.

"This just in to ONBS news. Mysterious trainer Red has fled his mountaintop home on Mt. Silver, apparently due to the manhunt the Pokémon League has placed on him. Here are the words of former leader Lance."

Ash's eyes widened. He heard Delia scream.

"Ever since I quit from the League and had been working for the Rangers full-time, I knew it was going to go off the wall. The new League head is crazy in my mind, but I can't do anything about it. I personally knew Red, and he was a great young man. I understand he's in his thirties now, but he's still not growing any older. To me he's still eleven. I believe that the League sees him as a threat, so they're trying to..."

Lance gulped, as if it was painful to say something. "...trying to eliminate him."

Delia fainted. Brock grabbed her almost lifeless form and carried her to the couch. Max poured a glass of water on her face, and she revived.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Ash asked, obviously concerned for his mother.

"It's Red..." She mumbled.

"What about him?" He asked. He had heard of Red before, being that he was the best of the best, and Ash looked at him as a model.

"He's... He's your father, Ash."

Silence. Pure, unending silence.

There were a few things going on in Ash's head, like "how" or "why didn't you tell me". But one thing was certain.

Ash got up and left the house.

May exited the house, yelling at the boy. "And where do you think you're going? Do you know how powerful the League is? You could get killed!"

Ash turned his head. "I know." He turned his head back and sent out Charizard. He climbed on the winged lizard's back.

"But I've lived before."

And off he went.


	2. Chapter 2

Geez, this took a lot longer than I wanted it to. Anyway, this chapter's got a little but more Teen in it. Lotsa death. And kissing. But mostly death.

* * *

Being a young adult was hard. That's for sure. Being seventeen is really hard. Especially when you've been locked in a standstill in a relationship with a beautiful girl for a year or so.

And Blue won't talk to you. But that's just a minor detail.

So when she starts to stop being as enthusiastic around you, what do you do?

Invite her to a pool party, duh.

But as Red sat down beside the pool in his backyard, and everyone but Leaf was there, even Blue?

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

So as he put on his black tee and sandals and walked over to Leaf's house, you could say a lot was on his mind.

Is she seeing someone else without telling me? No, she wouldn't do that.

Is she mad at me? Probably not.

Wait... what if she's hurt?

Red made like a Rapidash and ran straight to her house.

She wasn't feeling very enthusiastic.

Sitting on her bed, in her bikini, ready for the pool, staring out the window with a bored expression on her face.

She wanted to go, that's true. Every part of her wanted, no, ached to go. But there was one problem:

She was getting bored with her relationship with Red.

It felt like a sin to even think that, though she knew it was true. Red had done nothing in advancements toward her, and she was getting pretty mad at him for it. He rarely kissed her, he was too dense to realize when she was trying to show off in front of him, and he overall seemed like he wasn't caring as much.

A knock on the door shut out her feelings and reflections for a bit. She opened the door to a crushing bear hug from Red.

Before she could ask anything, though, she felt herself being passionately kissed by the boy.

He released and took her by her shoulders, staring into her eyes.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his brown eyes searching. "I got worried when you didn't show up."

Leaf looked down, feeling bad. How stupid and selfish was she that she wouldn't go because he wasn't moving the relationship forward?

She decided she'd think about that later.

She lunged herself at Red with the intention of never letting go.

-present-

Rage.

Of course, that wasn't the only feeling he had. He was really confused too. His mother had been hiding this secret, that Champion Red, his idol, his role model, was actually his father...

Why? Why did he leave? Why did Delia not tell him? Did they get into a fight? Did he just leave for Mt. Silver?

Those thoughts needed to be pushed out, he reminded himself. His mother must have had a very important reason to not tell him.

As he turned his Charizard to the northeast, towards Mt. Silver, he was shocked at what he saw.

Militias of men marching up the side of the mountain.

The mountain where Red was.

Dad.

Time slowed as he saw men march up to a cave near the top of the great mount. Two men, armed with sub-machine guns, opened the door and walked in. Ash couldn't hear that well because of the wind in his ears, but he was sure there was still no sound. Dead silence.

He quietly landed Charizard and slid behind a rock, out of sight from the militias. He turned his head to look down the mountainside, and almost retched at the sight of multiple Tyranitars and Ursarings shot down. Murdered with bullets.

He heard a gunshot. He zipped his head towards the cave, and saw a soldier fly out the open doorway and down the side of the mountain.

He screamed until he hit the cliff side, where his lifeless body rolled down the mountain.

"Fire at will!" He heard a man about. He turned, and saw an older, balding man with black hair and wearing a dapper black tuxedo.

The name 'Giovanni' rang throughout Ash's mind.

"Hyper Beam! Go!"

He turned and looked as a Snorlax busted through he small cave opening and shot out a hyper beam, moving it to the left as it took out a lot of men. It even passed over Ash's rock, and he had to kneel down in order not to be hit.

Guns rang through the air, and he knew the giant Pokémon was injured. He heard the sound of a pokéball activating, and another deactivating.

Hearing the sound of flames and wings, he looked again and saw a bearded man dressed in a red vest with a black tee shirt and jeans, riding a Charizard.

The beast burned several men before flying off above Ash.

He knew the guards would eventually find him, so he snuck off back to Charizard and they took off in the direction of the man, Pikachu once again clinging to dear life.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. It's the 4th of July update! (Even though this'll probably be uploaded on like the 6th or 7th. I'm so lazy at 10:45.) And here I'm writing this, while listening to loud music in earphones instead of watching the loud fireworks my sensitive ears hate. But hey, what can ya do? Write fanfiction, of course. And think about buying Greek Tortoises. But that's for another time. **

Driving through small-town Pallet was a release from the real world, as if the wind blowing in your face was your future, right there and ripe for the taking.

For Red, it was even more special. His old Ford cruised through the hilly town easily. His arm outside of the truck, hand open, feeling the wind, he cruised down to the open field between Pallet and Viridian City.

He put it in park, got out of the truck and walked to the middle of the field, taking in the tall grass and treeline, which he thinks creeps closer every single time he comes out here.

He sighs and closes his eyes. There's still burn marks out here from when he trained with his Charizard, which had just evolved from Charmeleon. Still some uprooted trees from when Espeon got mad at Blastoise and Venusaur. Still some ruts in the ground from when he taught Snorlax rollout.

But now, as he pulled out a tent from his old Ford, and locked eyes with his girlfriend, he knew this place had more importance than it ever had before.

"Mmm..." Leaf smelled the air. It was a perfect combination of pine trees and oak trees, as well as the sweet scent of flowers and assorted Pokémon.

"It's good, isn't it?" Red asked. She smiled, nodding vigorously.

-Time skip-

Red had always loved the stars. His watch told him it was 11:30, and he could already see all the constellations. They were beautiful.

He could still hear Leaf snoring in the tent. She went in there right after dinner at 8 and still hadn't come out. That girl could sleep through a bomb, though.

The snoring stopped, and he thought none of it.

The Pokémon were all asleep, he noticed. He didn't bring any Pokémon himself, because all that was out here were Rattatas and Spearows, which even angered couldn't hurt anyone. Unless you were just an idiotic twit.

He put his hands toward the fire to warm himself up. It being November, it started to get fairly cold down in Pallet, despite it being on the edge of the Kanjoh Ocean.

He heard the zipper to the tent open, and he turned to see Leaf wrapped in a blanked appear.

"Red?" She asked softly. She looked so frail then that it made Red blush for the first time in a long time.

"What?" He asked her, trying to get an answer.

"What are you doing?" She came over and say down next to him.

He looked up at the sky. "Just... watching the sky."

She giggled. "You're so boring, Red."

He looked at her, smirking as she came over and sat down next to him.

"Apparently I'm not that boring," he noted, watching the frail frame of a girl fall asleep, leaning on him.

Blue did admit, Red was a fairly easy person to hate. Especially after he just stole his girlfriend.

'Just' meaning two years ago.

This was stupid, Red was supposed to feel jealous of him, not the other way around.

But as he drove his 1989 Chevrolet up the hill and saw the two in question asleep in each other's arms, he couldn't help but notice how well the two meshed.

Giving up internally, Blue smiled softly before putting his Chevy in reverse and backing off into the 3 in the morning hillside, now forming the clear dew Pallet was known for.

-Present-

The sea air burned his face as he flew in the direction he felt the man had gone.

Ash felt weird. He knew the man he was chasing was his father. Red Ketchum. But a manhunt was something Ash wasn't used to. Especially a manhunt conceived through clouds.

Through the difficultly thick fog, Ash searched the skies for flames. With a Charizard that size, it would be pretty much impossible to be invisible, what with the immense territorial flames the male Charizard most definitely had.

As he searched, he thought. Red had grown brutal. From what Ash had heard, his father was a quiet man who was introverted, but very polite. Bookish, even. Seeing him command a Pokémon like Snorlax to carelessly throw a human being off of a cliff side shook him.

But knowing that the man was a relentless Team Rocket grunt made it a hundred percent better.

Ash reminisced on the day Meowth walked back into his life. The poor cat was on the run from Rocket and Giovanni himself. According to the shaken cat, both members of the annoying Rocket duo that had been terrorizing Ash when he was ten had attempted to run from the organization, trying to start a new life together as a couple.

They were caught and brutally murdered by Giovanni himself.

The shaken cat was crying, bleeding, and probably had a few bullets in him when he almost collapsed at the Pallet teen's doorstep. Ash made sure to get him medical attention, and he currently lived as the spoiled housecat of Delia Ketchum.

But that was two years ago.

Since then, Ash had done a lot of things. He finally won a league, as he returned to Kanto and beat the League there, his team consisting of what he felt were the strongest. He thought he would face Red at the end, and that was his goal.

He realized now that was a stupid goal. Red was hiding from Rocket this entire time at Mt. Silver.

A few weeks after Misty started dating Gary Oak, Ash decided he needed a girlfriend, too. Luckily for him, a certain brunette Hoenn girl accepted his offer, and they've been a couple ever since.

That was a year ago.

That same year, a boy named Ethan, who was known on the streets as Gold, challenged Ash to a battle. Ash, being the brash person he was, accepted immediately. He lost.

It's been a while since Ash has battled anyone, but a recent offer by Norman of being a secondary Gym leader beside the Normal Gym has started his hopes up again. He'd be important.

He shook his head. He was getting too far off into Dreamland. He cursed himself, joking about how he needed to stop being Kirby so often.

Looking down, he saw the Seafoam Islands, just east of Cinnabar. The poor island had suffered a volcano eruption, but Blaine, hardy as he is, decided just to move to Seafoam anyway. You could see the rebuilding of a new city being made on the empty shell that was Cinnabar Island.

Scarlet Isle, they called it. Genius.

But as he scanned Seafoam's infamous dotted cave openings, he spotted a flame. A rather large one.

He had found his father. Now all he needed to do was introduce himself without getting killed. With his dad being essentially Chuck Norris, this was going to be pretty hard.

He landed, making sure to check himself to make sure it didn't look like he had any weapons. He decided to take off his hoodie, so it wouldn't look like he was hiding anything.

Taking a deep breath, he walked forward. He felt some feet crawl up his back, almost forgetting Pikachu had hitched a ride in his hoodie.

Stepping into the cave, he spotted his father. He had already set up a fire, with all seven of his Pokémon out and warming themselves. His eyes darted up and landed on Ash. The Raichu sitting next to him stood on it's hind legs, hissing and growling.

"Don't attack!" Ash spoke, putting his hands up. The rat on his shoulder put his hands up, mimicking his trainer.

Red's eyes softened as his eyes landed on Pikachu.

"Come here, little guy." He gestured for the yellow mouse to come over.

Pikachu's eyes softened. He remembered Red.

He scampered over to the trainer and nuzzled into his arms, making sure he sat down next to the Raichu.

"You know Pikachu?" Ash asked. Red turned, looking at Ash with a softened face.

"Yes I do." He said. His gaze returned to the mouse cuddled up with Raichu. "He just so happens to be Raichu here's son."

Ash walked over and sat down next to the man, slightly intimidated by the wary looks he was receiving from the Blastoise.

"I bred him just for Professor Oak to have. He was a feisty little kit, the only one of Raichu to have." Red started to pet the little mouse, who cooed as he was pet.

Red turned back to Ash. He could see tears in the man's eyes.

"Y'know, there's one boy this was meant for," Red said.

Ash's breath stopped in his throat.

Red smiled as the tears flowed down, getting caught in his beard. "This was for my boy. I told Sam he'd better give it to Ash. Tell him he was late."

Ash started to get teary eyed.

"Ashton," his father asked, glancing toward him.

The room grew silent. The tiny kricketot outside were muted.

"What?" Ash asked softly.

"Welcome home."

* * *

EXTREMELY EPIC AND IMPORTANT NOTE: I will be doing the incredibly non-original shtick on this site, which is taking a one shot and dissecting it. I'll call it, Fanficritic. Yes, I'm serious. But if you guys could suggest me some hilariously stupid and/or hilariously good fanfics (Nintendo/ GravityFalls themed mind you) I would be really super happy-wappy. So yeah. I'll post one each Saturday. No, really. Until Season 1 ends, which will be when school starts back up in mid-August. If of course you guys support this. Use PMs or (even better) comments with your reviews so I can get an idea on one I can start on for episode one.


	4. Chapter 4

She groaned as she lay down on her bed. It had been an exceptionally long day. What with lessons from the professor taking up her entire morning up until noon, and then she had to prepare for her Orre trip she was taking with the rest of the class...

Geez, it tired her just thinking about it.

Since the professor's students were all Dex holders, and most of her friends were Dex holders, she wouldn't feel left out by most of them, but she didn't know the trainers from Hoenn, Unova, or Kalos. That didn't really matter, though, as she knew Johanna 'Pearl' Berlitz very well, probably more than she knew Blue. She'd met Platinum and Diamond as well, who were probably some of the weirdest people she'd ever known, with Ethan Hibiki, who kept bragging that his son was going to be named after himself, and Crystal Courier, who was pretty much an all-around diva.

So pretty much everyone was either a narcissist, weirdo, or she hadn't met them yet.

Joy.

But hey, isn't that what trips are supposed to do? Let you see new things and meet new people?

As she was pondering on the meaning of the word 'trip' (she had even taken it to Webster) she heard the doorbell ring. Wondering who it could be at 1:30 in the morning, she walked through her house to the from door and opened.

There stood Red, standing out in the rain dressed in his jacket with an umbrella in his hands.

"Oh, Red!" She gasped as she took the wet boy's hands and pulled him into the house. "You know you shouldn't be out in the rain this late! You'll catch a cold!"

He smiled embarrassedly while rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you know..." He got to work on removing his sopping wet jacket.

She stared at him a little bit. She realized she was staring and stopped, giving him a hard look.

"Now why on earth are you over here so late?" She scolded him.

"Well, I know you have trouble picking clothes, and since the trip's coming up..." He stopped, looking down as if embarrassed.

He felt her hug him, and he looked up to chestnut brown eyes looking back at him.

"Thank you." She told him. "That's very sweet."

They both walked up to her cluttered bedroom, taking in the sight of the rather large suitcase in front of them, almost completely empty save for a few toiletries.

Red sighed. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Leaf looked at him and nodded.

Red rubbed his chin as if he were thinking real hard about something. "Well, let's see... we'll be gone for a week, four days in Orre, three traveling there... so that means you'll need at least seven outfits. See? It's not that hard."

Leaf lowered her eyelids. "No crap, Sherlock."

Red put his hands up in the air. "Really? How hard can it be to choose seven outfits?"

Leaf scowled at him. "I have to make sure they look good, doofus. Plus I have to choose a swimsuit."

Red rolled his eyes. "Okay..."

So they both went through Leaf's closet, choosing the best combinations of skirts, tank tops, t-shirts, sport shorts, and sunglasses. They ended up with what Red would say to be too many outfits. Leaf was worried she didn't have enough.

"Leaf, we're staying on Gateon Beach. We shouldn't need to change every hour." Red mumbled.

Leaf scoffed. "You don't know anything about clothes. You probably just brought jeans, shorts, and a t-shirt."

By the blush on Red's face, she could tell she was one hundred percent correct.

Red looked at his watch, the time reading 2:30 am. He grimaced, wondering what his mother would say if she found out.

Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the ground outside. The loud resounding boom of thunder scared Leaf somewhat, and she immediately ran into Red, clutching on to him for protection. Well, Red didn't expect this sudden behavior. He fell over, a loud "oomph" escaping his mouth.

Leaf looked up, realizing she was laying on top of him. Embarrassed, she blushed as she looked into his grimacing face.

"Uh, hi Red." She said feebly.

"Hi Leaf." Red groaned in pain as he stood himself up, Leaf sitting down on her bed again.

"So..." Leaf started, twiddling with her hair. "Are you gonna go home now?"

Red shrugged. "Yeah, I'd better. Don't want mom to completely rip me to shreds when I get home."

And with that, he put back on his jacket and left the house.

-present-

As Ash and Red sat together in the cave, they talked a lot about Ash's journey.

"So I've been through Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos so far." Ash recounted the nations on his fingers.

Red crossed his arms, impressed. "That's a lot for your age. When I was fourteen I was still on a mountain."

His attention shifted towards the hat on Ash's head.

He picked it up off of the young boy's head, examining it. "Do you know where this hat came from?" Red asked his son.

Ash looked up, trying to remember. "No, I don't believe I do."

Red smiled. "This was the hat I wore on my journey, all through Kanto and Johto."

Ash smiled. "I wore that on my trip through Kalos. So I guess it's a journey hat, huh?"

Red nodded and grinned. He looked off. Remembering the few pictures he saw of his son, he remembered some of the pictures he saw of his son's companions.

"So lets start with your companions." Red started. Ash listened in closely.

"So from what I've heard, you traveled Kanto and Johto with Brock, the gym leader, right?"

Ash nodded.

"He was only two years older than me when we fought. He's in his late thirties, you know."

Ash's eyebrows rose. He knew Brock was lying about his age, but he didn't know he was in his thirties.

"And that Misty girl?" Red asked. Ash nodded, confirming the name of the redheaded girl he almost hated at this point.

"Well, she's the daughter of the Waterflower gym leader I fought and won against on the second try. That was a wild battle." Red stated, reminiscing.

Ash nodded. Misty once told him that her mother was killed in a car accident while he was in Sinnoh. He thought it best not to tell that, though.

Red looked out of the cave, as if he was worried. Before Ash could ask, though, Red continued.

"And from what I know, you're dating that Maple girl?" Red asked his son.

Ash nodded. Red smiled. "Good choice."

Ash laughed a little, before hushing himself. I wouldn't exactly be the best if he was found out with a wanted man.

Ash and Red continued to talk about Ash's journey, from friends to Pokémon.

Suddenly, Red stopped talking, and put up his hand to hush his son. Ash tuned his ears into the dark of the cave.

"...he's probably not down here, that crafty bastard." A voice growled.

"Shut up! We were given orders to examine the whole cave. Now we are going to do so." Another, more tense voice.

Red looked to his son. "Any ideas?" He asked Ash.

Ash remembered that he had Infernape on him, but he couldn't use it without the sound of a pokéball.

Instead, he looked towards Espeon. The catlike creature mewed softly as it knew exactly what to do. Using it's extrasensory powers, it located two lowly armed men with pistols just at the mouth of the cave, slowly proceeding towards the group.

It nodded to its trainer, indicating that there were indeed men in the cave.

"Alright Espeon," Red whispered, "use Extrasensory."

A faint blue glow surrounded the cat, and in a few seconds the group heard shrieks of pain as the men's heads felt like they were split open.

Red returned his Pokémon to the pokéballs, and the two with Pikachu and Espeon ran out of the cave just in time to avoid the grunts.

Red scowled at the cave, and signaled towards Espeon. The cat growled, and two sounds, distinct from another, one a wet snap sound, another a gurgling pop, were heard.

The trainers escaped, the two headless grunts, laying in a pool of blood, remaining unfound.

**Okay, so do you guys remember that 'Fanficritic' thing? I still don't have any suggestions for one-shots. I'd like it if you were to give me something to work with... Please**?


	5. Chapter 5

Whoa. So people actually read this story? That's real surprising actually. I thought that people thought AdvanceShipping was dead, and they thought BurningLeafshipping was irrelevant. Huh. I guess not.

But seriously. I never expected people to actually like this story at all. And hey, it's not that many people, but it's way more than I thought. A little story about Red being Ash's dad and some expository writing? Yeah right. Lets go read another writers stuff.

Thank you guys so much. And with a big hiatus comes...

A HUGE CHAPTER! ENJOY!

* * *

It was a lot hotter in Orre.

She inwardly facepalmed at her obvious remark of the region. Gateon Port was the port of a desert region, and humid as it was, it still wasn't any different than expected.

She turned to Red, who, in his red t-shirt and black shorts, looked as if he was more interested in the mixture of Pokémon. To be honest, he was. It was awfully strange to see Kanto and Johto's Pidgey flying alongside Hoenn's Taillow.

He caught Leaf staring and smirked knowingly. She blushed and returned to talking to the posh girl Pearl she had befriended. He turned away, earning a shoulder punch from Diamond as he passed, carrying suitcases.

If there was one thing Red had learned about Diamond, it was that he lived to serve. He literally argued with Red because he wanted to carry everyone's luggage for them.

This did make Red smile, though. It was obvious that Pearl was using him a little in their relationship, and either Diamond didn't care, or he didn't know, because he kept on trucking.

Gold was off sitting on a bench, flirting with that Crystal girl. It slightly irked Leaf seeing a guy that pushed himself, almost literally, into a girl that was obviously trying to ignore him. (she was currently fixing her designer purse. That also irked Leaf a bit.)

There was also a couple from Hoenn. Their names were Brandon "Ruby" Maple and Sapphire Birch, who kept bragging her brother would be a professor one day. On the outside, they rarely knew each other aside from being rivals, but on the inside, you could tell Brandon had a thing for her. Too bad Sapphire was dense as a rock...

Anyway, that was it, aside from Blue, who was currently out of sight.

Soon, Oak came out from the plane, dressed in his normal vacation attire of a flowered shirt, khakis, sunglasses, and a visor.

"Let's get to the hotel," the older professor said as he gathered the young group up and they all walked to the hotel.

Red looked ahead towards the giant towering building they were walking towards. He sighed. This was taking too long. He looked around, and didn't see Oak anywhere. He tried to sneak his fold-up bike out of his bag's pocket, when...

"You can't use that now!" The booming voice of Professor Oak blasted from behind Red's right ear. He screamed, and dropped the tiny thing.

He sighed as the eyes of everyone else there landed on him. He slowly picked up the bike, blushing, and held his head down as he continued to walk forward.

They walked in to an elegant looking spruce-encrusted entrance hall. While a few of them gasped and gazed at the craftsmanship, Red, Blue, Diamond and Gold walked up to the counter with the professor, who took the keys to three different rooms and have them each to Red, Gold, and himself. He turned to the rest of the group.

"Red, you will be staying with Diamond, Leaf, and Pearl." He ordered, giving the keycard to Red and gesturing to the rooms.

Red looked down at the keycard.

"Room 121," he mumbled, walking up the stairs to the hallway. In the middle of the long, thin room was room 121. He slid the keycard through the lock, and it opened.

The room must have been a suite, because it was absolutely massive. For a hotel room, that is. There were three medium sized beds and a couch that they assumed was a pull-out couch. There was a 36 inch flat screen TV on top of a dresser, one of two in the room. The other was in between two of the beds.

On the other side of the room, there was a kitchenette with a microwave, small fridge, and a little table.

There was also a bathroom, but they had all been to a hotel room before, so they knew about that.

Except for Diamond. He had never been to a hotel before. And as he stood, hunched over in the doorway clutching onto three of the five bags that were packed, he took a big gulp nervously.

They all walked in to claim their beds. Of course, the girls sprinted towards two of the beds, claiming they needed space. Diamond took the closest bed and began to unpack. The girls swiped their rolling suitcases (Pearl had two) and unpacked quickly, getting done in almost three or four minutes.

Red sighed as he walked over to the couch. As he began to set up the bed, Pearl grabbed the TV remote and flipped it on. She surfed a few channels before finally settling on TLC. It was apparently a show that she was very interested in, because the blunette laid back on her bed and shut out everything else but whatever she was watching. Some kind of fashion show nobody else in the room was interested in.

Diamond had insisted on helping Red set up the couch-bed. Red was not one to resist this, because setting it up had proved to be harder than he thought.

Leaf sighed at the lack of anything to do, so she pulled out her Pokédex and pulled up the Safari app she had downloaded. As much as she hated to say it, she had to watch Redd and Lynk on almost a daily basis.

Red heard a click from the couch, and it flung open to reveal a bed.

"Haha!" He yelled. He went up for a high five with Diamond. The other boy seemed surprised, but continued with it anyway.

Diamond looked down. "I don't believe we have introduced ourselves."

Red put a finger to his chin and thought. They hadn't really introduced each other yet, other than talking a bit.

"Well," Diamond started. "My name is Lucas Diamond Bluestem. Eh, but you can call me Lucas. I come from Twinleaf town in Sinnoh, also where Pearl over there is from."

At the mention of her name, Pearl raised her hand.

Lucas held an embarrassed smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, I'm also the champion of the Sinnoh League. Not to brag, though, but... yeah."

Red smiled. "Yeah. Red Ketchum. I'm from Pallet Town. I've met Cynthia before, when I went to Unova for a tournament there. I was beaten by this kid named Nate. Tough guy. Though, to be honest, I was under the impression we couldn't use healing items. He kept healing his Pokémon, and I couldn't."

Lucas laughed a bit, before taking off his beret and sitting down next to Red.

They began to talk about different things, like their Pokémon and how pricy items were getting.

Lucas brought up the conversation on Leaf.

"So, what's your status with Leaf?" He asked.

Red blushed a bit before looking back at the girl who was currently watching something on her Pokédex.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know, but I won't tell you. She'd be more likely to talk about this than me." Red countered.

Lucas put his hands in the air. "Hey!"

Just then the doorbell rang. Red opened it, and in came Blue Oak.

"How's it going?" Red asked. The other boy walked in.

"Not bad, and I can't imagine it'd be any different for you." Red shook his head at Blue's question.

Red turned to the post-egotistical friend of his. "Well? What're you doing here?"

Blue smirked and shut his eyes. "We're gonna go see a Manaphy."

-present-

May sighed. She hadn't heard from Ash all day, and it was already three in the afternoon. Most of the others had gone home, sad to see their friend go, but Brock, Gary, Misty, and she had stayed behind just in case Ash had showed up.

Delia hadn't come out of her room since Ash left, and they had all begun to he worried. Even Meowth was saddened at the sudden disappearance of his friend.

The cat had leapt onto May's lap. Being that he had no need to, Meowth barely talked anymore, he let his actions speak for him. So he was silent as the girl pet him.

May sighed. "Oh, Meowth, I'm just so worried about Ash. He's just so brash sometimes, I feel as if he's already gone."

The cat looked up at May and sighed. "Ash's gotta plan, he always does." Meowth replied.

May sighed.

As they flew by on Red's humongous Charizard, Ash couldn't help but think back on what had happened earlier. His father had no trouble brutally murdering two people. He decided to ask. Not now, but later.

Chances be, Red was actually thinking about that very same thing.

'What's wrong with me?' He wondered as he stole a look a his son. 'Why would I do that? When is that ever okay?'

He looked forward solemnly. 'I have a son that needs to grow up to be a strong man. He cannot make those mistakes. He can never stoop so low as to be with Giovanni.'

He decided he'd start a conversation.

"Y'know, Ash," Red started. His son jumped a bit, not expecting a word from his father.

"Yeah?" Ash asked.

Red took a breath. "What I did back there was something I never wanted to do. And looking back, I didn't have to either. That was just plain brutal."

Ash nodded, sensing how his father had done wrong and was paying for it mentally.

Red continued. "I want you to never kill a man, no matter the circumstances."

Ash grimaced and nodded. The look in his father's eyes proved to him that Red was having a hard time coping with it.

Red looked off into the distance. "Just... Don't do it, okay?"

Ash nodded, and they both returned to silence.

...and awkwardness.

The only sound the two trainers could hear was the woosh of the air behind their ears.

Until...

Ash heard something whiz by his ear. Looking through the clouds, he spotted a few men in dark uniforms with sniper rifles shooting at the large dragon.

Team Rocket.

They had finally found them. How could they? They hadn't been tailing them, had they?

This was bad.

Red suddenly felt an urge of responsibility, a drop in his chest as he realized what was actually happening.

"Ash, GET DOWN!"

With those words, the frightened teenager grasped the dragon's back.

For the first time since he was eight, Ash prayed to God for mercy.

It was 10:30. Everyone else in the house had gone to sleep. Yet May was still sitting in the living room, clutching a pillow as hard as she could.

As she stared aimlessly at the ground, her thoughts on Ash and his unknown father, she began to tear up at the thought of what the mafia-like Team Rocket would do to enemies such as Ash and Red. Undoubtedly, they would kill them, but the various ways that Giovanni would torture the two was incredibly disturbing for her.

As she began to cry, clutching her chest, she remembered the day her relationship with Ash really took off.

The boy had just returned from his trip to Kalos. Being relatively unsuccessful, the 13-year-old had an air of regret and failure around him that all of his friends noticed immediately. Especially the bright eyed brunette girl that had secretly had a crush on the oblivious trainer ever since she had started her Johto journey.

She had missed him, sure, but halfway during her travels she began to really realize why she was missing him.

She knew what she had to do. She had to get to Sinnoh.

To be honest, when May caught sight of Dawn, her heart sunk. But after a few conversations with the girl, and with Ash, she realized that they really thought of themselves as brother and sister, always fighting, but coming together in the end. Dawn even said to her that she would absolutely hate having a relationship with 'that oblivious pig.'

However, the little reconnaissance mission was a failure: she did not have time to confess her actual feelings to the boy. (Actually, try not being brave enough to ask him herself).

Little did she know that the boy was having some issues with the girl as well.

Aside from perverted, snide comments from Brock whenever he'd steal a look at her, Ash had really no shame in saying it: he had a thing for this girl.

Sure, he was a teacher, but she was everything he wasn't, and everything he was, all in one.

After his Sinnoh tourney was completed, Ash made a phone call to his mother.

He turned on the telephone. The happy face of his mother was quickly replaced by a worried one, as the look of confusion on Ash's face was enough to change her day.

"What's wrong honey?" His concerned mother had asked. Always worried, Ash supposed. Might as well start off clear.

"Uh, well, I've got... uh... a thing, for, uh, this girl..." He started off.

Her face brightened up, as did Ash's (but not in a pleasant way, if you know what I mean) as she began to list off the names she thought it was.

Ash waved his hands in front of the screen. "No, no, no, mom, it's... it's..."

His mom's face melted into a warm smile. "It's that May girl, Ash. I know." She giggled at the face of her son, as she proceeded to do that 'a mom always knows' speech, which Ash promptly put a stop to.

She calmed down and continued. "Ash. I see the way you look at her. In fact, I had a talk with Brock the other day, and he told me most of it. And don't worry, I know all that stuff about peeping at her wasn't true. But still, you gotta tell her sometime."

And he promised he would. It took six months for him to get around to it, though.

After he'd finished his Unova league, and as he was literally exiting the plane, his pokégear rang, and the number was Norman's.

The boy gulped. What did he want?

Ash swallowed the lump in his throat and walked inside the airport as he answered.

"H-hello? Mr. Maple?" He asked meekly.

Silence.

Ash started to sweat. Buckets, he could've sworn.

"So you like my daughter, do ya?" The normally happy voice of Norman was cold, a steel that Ash never heard before. It scared him.

Ash couldn't breathe. And in the three seconds of silence there was, he decided that the safest option was option number two: be honest with the man.

Ash cleared his throat, and swallowed his fear. "Y-yes sir."

More silence. Then, "Why?"

Dammit. Why did there always have to be hard questions?

Thinking ahead, Ash decided not to go the route of saying she was pretty. He decided to list off the reasons why he actually found himself smitten with the coordinator he trained himself.

"Well, Mr. Maple, I believe the reason I like your daughter is because she is incredibly smart, more than I could ever be. And... and she's so calm in some situations, but serious when she needs to be, even a little mad when she needs to be comical. And that's a whole other thing... she's really funny. Makes me laugh with just one sentence. She also makes the best food, and... and she's the best friend I could ever ask for. She's so kind, and caring, and..."

By this point the boy was breaking down on the bench he was sitting on.

"I'm sorry Mr. Maple. Forgive me. I... I just..."

Norman was pretty sure he heard a muffled son from the boy, but probably not.

Ash waited to get shot down. It seemed like hours to him, if not only seconds. Just downright silence. No sound, just the almost-silent static from the phone connection.

"So my daughter's not pretty?"

Ash's eyes dried immediately.

Norman sighed a sigh of relief on the other line. "I have May right here, would you like to tell her something?"

"Uh, no thanks Mr. Maple."

"And for God's sake Ash, I have a name. What happened to it?" Norman said in an almost laughing but serious tone.

Ash started to laugh. It started slow, but then rose alongside the man's on the other side.

"Ash, with me you need no approval." Norman said, making sure to sound fatherly.

So now we return to Ash, heartbroken, returning to he crowd of his friends and a May that would react like nothing he'd ever seen.

She pushed Misty to the side and rushed forward, catching the boy off surprise, but failing to catch the duffel bag that slid off his shoulder when he was spun around by the hug of the brunette currently a few inches shorter than him.

Oh yeah. He was happy. Nothing would ever beat that moment.

Except for three seconds later when she grabbed his cheeks and almost forced her mouth into his.

**Definitely the shippiest thing I've ever written. I feel ashamed. I'm a teenage guy. I've had like only two girlfriends. Why am I doing this?**

**There used to be an offensive piece right here aimed towards fanfiction writers of the male gender. I thought it was funny, seeing as I'm a guy, but looking back now it was really offensive. After a few messages I've decided to delete it from this story. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, so what all has happened since the last update? Well, kind of a lot. **

**Number one, I had my birthday on the 22nd. So that was** **nice**.

**Then school started. And OOOHHH, let me tell you about that. It's kinda tough. But not really. But really. **

**Oh, and by the way, we've accideny got a longer flashback than current section of the story. Oh well. Well, now that that's over. Lets start the story, shall we? CONTINUE!**

"What? Are you kidding me?" Pearl asked, hyped up.

"Not at all," Green stated. "We've got thirty minutes. Get ready."

Red scowled as he was forced by Leaf to leave his pokéballs behind in the room, as he locked the door. The group walked down the hallway and met up with the rest of the group.

Oak checked that everyone was there, and pointed his finger to the exit. "Onward!" He yelled jokingly. Green facepalmed behind his grandfather as the group walked out of the hotel.

The walk over to the Gateon Aquarium was relatively uneventful, however the clouds looming above the port town were increasingly worrying Leaf.

Finally, they made it to the large, Goldeen-shaped building at the center of the town that housed almost every water-type Pokémon the world had ever seen.

As the group entered, the professor entitled them with self-exploration; though at 4 they should report back to the entrance.

With that, the overly excited Red grabbed Leaf's hand and bolted toward the nearest enclosure. The group sweat dropped as the Pokémon enthusiast in Red was obviously hard to kill, even with a girlfriend in Leaf to sway him otherwise.

The two sped right through the Kanto region section, as Red had already seen all of those, right into the Johto section.

The first enclosure held within it a spiky ball of a fish with a paddle tail. Red curiously looked at it, and turned.

"Hey, Leaf, what is this thing?" He asked her.

She looked around and saw a sign that established the Pokémon inside.

"Hmm. Says here that thing's a Qwilfish, a poison type." She read aloud.

Red pressed his face against the glass. "Cool!" He exclaimed, but quickly retracted as the aggressive fish scowled and expanded his spikes in annoyance.

They moved on to another enclosure, holding in it a large amount of Remoraid and an Octillery. Red wasn't as interested in Remoraid as he was in the freaking octopus gun that is Octillery. It actually moved up to Red, and stuck itself to the glass, as if trying to give Red a hug. Disturbed, Leaf suggested they move on. The depressed Octillery slowly fell to the bottom and sulked.

Leaf spotted a specimen in the next tank that looked relatively familiar. The regal-looking creature stood on its hind legs, with a crown appearing to be made from a Shellder, quite like a Slowbro's tail, perched on its head.

Red read the sign. "This thing's a Slowking, apparently a separate evolution of Slowpoke. Like a Slowbro."

Leaf grinned at the thing. "Doesn't look half as dopey," she joked.

The thing turned and looked at her. "Well thank you miss," he replied through telepathy.

Surprised, the girl almost fell into Red. "Yup. Says here its a psychic type that rivals the IQ of most humans." Red quoted, holding the dazed girl so she wouldn't fall on the ground.

"Well, goodbye Slowking." Red saluted as he carried the girl out of the room. Slowking waved back, sweatdropping at the girl's reaction.

After a few more exhibits, they found themselves staring face-to-face with a Feraligatr. The thing stared at them, unmoving, yet seemingly entertained by the two humans.

Red and Leaf watched it for a little bit, before getting bored as it fell asleep.

Entering the Hoenn section, an open tank featuring Mudkip attracted Leaf, as the adorable fish seemed to be her magnet.

"D'aww, look at these cuties, Red!" She squealed. Red rolled his eyes, but sat down to look at one anyway. Seemingly having a staring contest with an equally bored Mudkip, Red dragged Leaf out of the room and continued.

The Wingull and Pellipper room was incredibly loud, so they skipped it entirely.

Stopping at the Feebas exhibit, the two met up with Saphhire and Brendan. The two were busy quarreling over which was better, Milotic or Gyarados. Red and Leaf left them alone.

After that, they entered the equally loud room full of hungry Piplup, the entrance to Sinnoh, with a few Prinplup and Empoleon mixed in as well. Watching the birds eat caused Leaf's stomach to rumble, so the two decided to move on.

Passing a few rooms, Red and Leaf met up with everyone at a huge, circular room with a circular tank in the middle, containing a small blue creature happily playing around.

Green cleared his throat. "This is Manaphy. A supposed legendary from an ocean near Sinnoh, it is said it only lays its eggs every few hundred years."

Sapphire's eyes grew as she immediately pressed up against the glass to get a better look. It did the same, having a seemingly important interest in the young woman.

Red chuckled, sitting down on a bench. This'd be a while.

-time skip : 8:00pm-

Red groaned as he unlocked the door to the room and the four liked in. Lucas literally fell asleep on his bed. Leaf and Pearl seemingly followed suit, though Red could see they were both on their Pokégear or Pokedexes or whatever.

He turned off the light and laid down on the couch, trying to go to sleep, however the insomnia he developed decided it best not to allow him any sleep.

And so, the red-clad boy stared at the ceiling at 2:14 am. Great.

Eventually he learned he wasn't alone. Shifting to get a better view, he looked over the couch to see Leaf, standing basically in only short shorts and a bra, getting a drink of water. She tiredly looked over to the couch. Red, freaking out about whether she thought he was peeping or not, flew back down onto the couch and pretended to he asleep.

Leaf squinted. "Red?" She called out softly.

'Crap.' He thought. He groaned as if he was waking up and looked over, pretending to be half-asleep. "Yeah?" He faked tiredness.

The girl smiled softly. "I guess good morning." She yawned.

Red looked toward the clock. 3:34. Jeez, it was late.

He rose from the couch and walked over to the girl, taking a paper cup and filling it with water, following the lead of Leaf.

Of course, the fact that teenage Red was up alone with a girl who was wearing only a bra certainly bothered him, it certainly was a sight to see Leaf basically shut up when seeing him down a half jug of water. In his boxers.

The two smiled and went back to their beds. Red fell asleep almost immediately, but the girl had some troubles. She found herself smiling as she stared at the teenaged boy's head and fell asleep.

-present-

The first thing Ash heard was the roar of the Charizard. Next a muffled curse from his father, and then he was falling. They were falling. Down. Towards the soldiers.

His mind was only in one place: I'm gonna die here. I'm gonna die here. Over and over the four words tumbled through his mind, as he himself fell.

He saw, for a split second, his father retract Charizard back into a pokeball, before-

Poof. Darkness.

-time skip-

It must've been a few hours. Red found himself sitting in a cell inside a darkened room. It was empty except for the chair next to the wall and the bars up front.

He was captured. And somewhere, so was Ash.

Red sighed and put his hands to his head. "I never should have brought Ash into this," he muttered as he struggled to stand up. A sharp pain jetted through it, and he wondered if that was the leg he landed on. Probably.

But, with some work, Red was standing.

He looked around carefully. The darkened room sat just outside a visible hallway. Just as dark.

"My, my, my," he heard an all-too-familiar voice wonder, dripping with sarcasm. Red turned to see the suited man walk in from the shadows. "But the little ten year old may have a hard time escaping, now that he's too big to fit through the bars."

Red decided not to be upfront with this. He approached Giovanni.

"What do you have me here for, Giovanni? Am I worth something to you?" Red asked, careful not to trip up the guards surrounding Giovanni.

The balding man chuckled, evilly lighthearted, and depressingly cheery. "I believe you already know this, Master Red," Giovanni taunted. "I'm afraid you are a roadblock that needs to be eradicated."

Red scowled. Giovanni had grown older, but more arrogant.

"I believe now we hold the execution," Giovanni asked a guard.

Red's eyes widened. "How long do I have?" He asked.

"Oh, no, Mr. Red," Giovanni eased falsely. "not you... the boy."

Red's eyes filled with rage as he leapt up towards the bars. "You keep away from my son! I'll kill you!" He screamed at the demon. However, his face was tauntingly close to Giovanni's, and he couldn't reach an arm through.

"Take him out," Giovanni ordered cooly. "Let him watch the boy die."

With that, Red was stunned, handcuffed, and marched off toward the large chamber that was the execution room.

Red felt a shift as the guards were moving him. He then realized he wasn't in a base- but a helicarrier.

Great. Now it's harder to escape.

Red was alert. Once he felt the slightest shift in the hands of the guards...

Red elbowed a guard in the stomach, and he lurched back from the blow. Another guard raised his gun, and Red elbowed the weapon, causing it to move and promptly mail another soldier in the gut.

While the soldier was stared forward, Red kicked him in the back, making sure to hit the other soldier on the ground with the back kick.

All three soldiers were incapacitated.

Red ran, hands still interlocked, until he found an engine room. There sat his pokéballs and hat, no jacket, but that wasn't a problem then.

There was a laser cutter working in the corner, so he put the chain in the laser, and it split. Strapping his pokéballs to his belt, he walked off in the endless hallway.

He heard voices. He turned a corner, and found the large room.

There sat his son, blindfolded and gagged. Pistol to his head.

Red thought fast. He saw a lever on the wall. Before a single shot was fired, he pulled it.

One of the walls opened slightly, sucking out a few soldiers to their cold downfall.

He grabbed his son, slowly slipping towards the opening, and grabbed a parachute on the wall.

Picking up a gun on the ground and shooting at the door mechanism, he shut it, preventing any more people coming in.

Giovanni started at him coldly. "You will die for this. I didn't think the guards were this dumb." The old man said.

Red raised his gun, but before he could fire, the parachute opened and the two were sucked out into the cold.


End file.
